I put closely linked series in a stack and wait for the last one to come out before devouring the whole thing one after another. Plenty of other stuff to read--I know, it's hard to admit there's stuff outside of Trek
--in the meantime.
Upcoming Publications: February/March 2008
- Thread starter Rosalind
- Start date
--in the meantime.
So when is the February Slings and Arrows e-book being released? It's already almost March!
Hell if I know.
Once I pass it for press, it's out of my hands. I did my bit. Now it's just waiting for the dealers to start carrying the fershlugginer thing.
this is going to crush the schedule even more if you take away the eBooks. Those were about the only thing being used to fluff up the schedule enough to make it look like Trek books are still actively produced. Look through the last few "upcoming release" threads, and remove the eBook offerings. Not much left.
Unless giving the eBook line some time off means that there will be more slots allocated to print books?
Unless giving the eBook line some time off means that there will be more slots allocated to print books?
I'll repeat what I said on the Psi Phi board:
Pocket has been publishing ST fiction since 1981, and for the first seven years it only published roughly one book every other month, jumping up to one book per month in 1988 when TNG books came along and alternated with TOS books. It continued at about a book per month until DS9 came along in 1993, when it increased a little, to something like 14-15 mass-market paperbacks annually, 4-5 books per year for each of the three series. It wasn't until VGR came along in 1995, fully 14 years after the line debuted, that Pocket jumped to publishing two books per month, and that schedule only lasted for about 10 years.
So the 2008 schedule is about on a par with the publishing schedules in the early to mid-'90s, and that's hardly sparse. Come on, name another SF tie-in series that publishes anywhere near a dozen titles a year. There's only one that I'm aware of, Doctor Who, which is a really hot property and whose output of prose fiction is comparable to Pocket's output of Trek prose fiction (although it has a lot more going on in the audiobook and young-adult departments). The Trek novel line is still extremely robust and active by any reasonable standard.
Huh? Every month has a new mass-market book, just like every month has since June 2005 (with the exceptions of two months in 2006, when Crucible Books 2-3 got delayed, but that was made up for with two in one month when those two books did come out).
But the schedule's no more or less sparse than it's been since mid-2005. Yeah, no more eBooks, but I know how much (or rather little) they sold, and how minimal a part of the program they were.
^It's only a technicality (and I understand the unforseen reasons why it happened), but THIS month, for example, is only publishing a reprint of a hardcover novel from last year, and an ebook.
I'm just saying, when you look at the posted schedule here every month, there was at least one new book, and 1-2 new ebooks as well. Made the schedule look a bit more fleshed out, and gave us more options as readers.
As has been pointed out, there was a good 10 year period or so where it was 2 mmpbs a month, basically every month. Then we got cut back to one a month, but with HC books not really counting against that, and with bunches of ebooks added into the mix. Then the HC books and their reprints started to count against the quota (but there were still the ebooks), and now even the ebooks have gone away.
Just a trend that's kinda depressing to me as a Star Trek fan (and a fast reader). The quality has been excellent in recent years, but the portions keep getting cut back, it seems. There's DEFINITELY a trade off with doing it this way versus the short, cookie-cutter novels we were getting at the end of the "2 a month" phase, but seems like it's swinging too far the other way...
I'm just saying, when you look at the posted schedule here every month, there was at least one new book, and 1-2 new ebooks as well. Made the schedule look a bit more fleshed out, and gave us more options as readers.
As has been pointed out, there was a good 10 year period or so where it was 2 mmpbs a month, basically every month. Then we got cut back to one a month, but with HC books not really counting against that, and with bunches of ebooks added into the mix. Then the HC books and their reprints started to count against the quota (but there were still the ebooks), and now even the ebooks have gone away.
Just a trend that's kinda depressing to me as a Star Trek fan (and a fast reader). The quality has been excellent in recent years, but the portions keep getting cut back, it seems. There's DEFINITELY a trade off with doing it this way versus the short, cookie-cutter novels we were getting at the end of the "2 a month" phase, but seems like it's swinging too far the other way...
But looks don't necessarily reflect reality. As Keith said, the eBooks represented a very, very small segment of Pocket's sales, since few people read them. Heck, they wouldn't have stopped publishing them if people were reading them! In terms of sales and readership, this change has a very minor impact on Pocket's output.
10 years out of the 26 that Pocket has been publishing Trek novels. It was the exception to the rule. If anything, 2 books a month was an excessive pace, glutting the market to the detriment of audience interest and rushing the writers and editors to the detriment of quality. I'd say the current pace is a lot healthier. Especially since it's comparable to the pace the books were coming out between 1988-1993 -- a period when Star Trek was as hot and successful as it's ever been. Any observer back then would have said the book line was in really great shape. And it still is.
For comparison, let's look at the Stargate franchise. There have been SG-1 and Atlantis novels coming out regularly for several years now: three in 2004, three (including a novelization) in 2005, seven in 2006, five in 2007, and three in the first third of 2008. Even with two series, they can't match a once-a-month schedule. By the standards of tie-in literature, Stargate is very active, and Star Trek is amazingly active. Especially when you consider that there isn't even an ST show on the air anymore. Most novel lines don't survive the ends of their series for very long.
This isn't true, actually. The hardcover reprints were always counted as one of the mass-markets for a given month, even when there were two books a month. And the hardcovers and trade paperbacks don't count "against the quota." Collision Course and The Sky's the Limit were published the same month as Q & A. The two Mirror Universe trades were published the same month as Errand of Fury Book 2 and both The Good that Men Do and Crucible: Kirk (the latter moved from November, where there were no mass-markets because of that delay). Missing in Action was published the same month as Rosetta. Captain's Glory and Strange New Worlds 9 were published the same month as Burning Dreams. And so on.
As with the Crucible trilogy, there are times when the mass-market slot didn't happen, but that was almost always made up for. Those months when there were two or more eBooks were to make up for there being none in previous months (usually because the deadbeat editor fucked up
).The schedule is no more or less sparse than it's been since the cutback to one mass market per month.
Personally, I'm glad that the paperback schedule looks the way it does now. It's giving me the chance to actually start reading more non-tie ins (like Hitchhiker's and the next book on my list, Color of Magic by Terry Prattchet[sp]).
Terek Nor should be hitting shelves around the 28th give or take..
Huh? Where did you get that? I think KRAD already stated somewhere that at least one more volume will be released late this year and the rest of the series will probably follow until the entire series is in print. After all they only need to be printed. The work and payment has already been done so why not print everything they already have?
Kevin
There's been a long history of strife here between those who like eBooks and those who don't.
That said, this isn't the place for such discussion, so let's drop right here.
Who said?
Nobody said. There's no reason to assume that the end of the eBook series means the end of the paperback reprints.
Er, no, the reprints will still be happening. Wounds is scheduled for fall of this year, and we're talking about doing Mere Anarchy some time in early 2009.
I know I'm going to get flak from the mods for saying this, but I really do think it needs to be said, for the good of eBooks everywhere.
Apart from reading eBooks on your computers, the only other way to do is on one of four dedicated eBook readers. Two of which are ONLY available in the US, and the two UK/Europe readers are almost prohibitively expensive. If/when the Sony PRS-505 (or a later model) becomes available in the UK I will get it and then buy eBooks to fill it up. If AmazonUK are able to get the Kindle over here, I might buy that and get eBooks to fill it up.
Edited to add: PDAs have too small a screen size IMHO which is why I mention the dedicated readers
There, and I hope I don't get done by the mods.
Apart from reading eBooks on your computers, the only other way to do is on one of four dedicated eBook readers. Two of which are ONLY available in the US, and the two UK/Europe readers are almost prohibitively expensive. If/when the Sony PRS-505 (or a later model) becomes available in the UK I will get it and then buy eBooks to fill it up. If AmazonUK are able to get the Kindle over here, I might buy that and get eBooks to fill it up.
Edited to add: PDAs have too small a screen size IMHO which is why I mention the dedicated readers
There, and I hope I don't get done by the mods.
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